St. Leo the Great: Model for the Modern Catholic

by Patrick Owens

10 November 2011

One thousand five hundred fifty
years ago, one of the greatest Roman Pontiffs entered into his eternal
reward. Pope Leo the Great, whose name alone marks him among the most
illustrious sovereigns to ever occupy Peter’s throne, changed the face of
the papacy and consolidated the supreme authority of the Roman See in a
period of political chaos and spiritual crisis.

The date of St. Leo’s birth and
details of his early life are unclear, but we know he was raised in Tuscany,
and received an exceptional liberal arts education. In 440 Leo was elected
pope. From the time of his election, he had a vision of the changes he
needed to affect, the challenges he would face, and the great labours he
would endure in the service of the Church. He immediately began working to
centralize ecclesiastical authority under the Roman Pontiff, and he was not
afraid to use the all tools granted to him through his office to fight his
numerous detractors.

During Leo’s reign the Western
empire was crumbing, and Italy’s administrative infrastructure and defenses
had been seriously diminished. Twice Pope Leo personally worked as a
peacemaker to prevent the complete destruction of the city of Rome. In 452
Attila the Hun made his incursion into Italy. Two separate chroniclers
relate that Pope Leo himself led a delegation to meet Attila in Mantua and
was able to dissuade him from invading Rome. Then, in 455, the Vandals
entered the city of Rome, but Pope Leo, clearly an adept ambassador,
prevented the Vandals from slaughtering the citizens and burning the city to
the ground.

The spiritual situation in the Church was also bleak, with two especially
nefarious enemies prowling about: Nestorians (who taught that God has two
natures) and Monophysites (who taught that Jesus had one nature, a novel of
mixture human and divine.) These heresies were spreading westward like a
disease from Persia, Syria, Egypt and the Levant. Pope Leo was also
concerned that Pelagians and Manicheans in Italy were working to destroy the
Church, and he gave many vehement homilies to his congregations in Rome
against any affiliation with known heretics. Relying heavily on his
profound knowledge of sacred scripture, Leo fought hard to destroy these
errors.

His remaining literary corpus contains 143 letters and 96 sermons, but he is
most remembered for his famous Tome, an ordered enunciation of the formulas
of Western Christology. When Leo’s Tome was read at the Council of
Chalcedon, the bishops assembled are said to have acclaimed together "Peter
has spoken through the mouth of Leo." Through his letters, Leo had
correspondence with all parts of the Church and was very effective in
leading both the East and the West. His letters and sermons contain some of
the most glorious examples of eloquence and rhetoric of the period. His
Latin style, which became known as the cursus Leonicus, was a standard for
centuries. This fiery yet symmetrical style of writing bears witness to
Leo’s fervent confession of faith combined with his fair and deliberate way
of rule.

While he delighted the faithful with his oratory skills, Pope Leo, as a true
pastor to his flock, did not miss an opportunity to remind the faithful of
the essentials of our faith. He makes frequent mention in his sermons of
the importance of alms-giving, the virtue of charity, and the power of the
Sacraments. He is hailed as the author of the social doctrine known as the
the universal destination of goods and often reminded the faithful
of their equality within the Church despite any class differences.

Astute sensitivity to the liturgy and its relationship to the daily lives of
the faithful lead Pope Leo to formalize and emphasis the tradition of
Quottour Temporaor
Ember Days, which mark the changing seasons with three days of fasting and
prayer. In order to ensure consistency of liturgy throughout the Church, he
published the Leonine Sacramentary and decreed its application.

St. Leo the Great is a model to the modern Catholic, who lives in a world
where our common moral sensibilities have been shattered, a world where
heresies grow so vast as they are nameless, a world where Catholic
leadership and obedience to the successor of St. Peter is needed more than
ever. At Wyoming Catholic College, we provide students with a liberal arts
education encompassing a thorough knowledge of sacred scripture and liturgy
through Theology, a deep understanding of virtue in Philosophy,
appreciation for and mastery of the rhetorical arts in the Trivium and
Latin, and the ability and confidence be great leaders through our unique
outdoor leadership program. We hope to prepare our students to go out and
subdue the modern day Attila and the Vandals and correct today’s Manicheans
and Monophysites.

Sancte Leo
Magne, Ora pro nobis.

Used with permission.

Patrick Owens
is an instructor of Latinat Wyoming Catholic College.He earned
his B.A. at Fordham University, spending a year abroad in Rome, Italy,
studying with Papal Latinist Fr. Reginald Foster during his time there.
After finishing his undergraduate degree, Owens moved to Montella, Italy, to
do a post-baccalaureate in Neo-Latin literature and spoken Latin. Owens then
went on to earn his masters degree in Latin literature at the University of
Kentucky under the direction of Prof. Terence Tunberg, director of the UK
Institute for Latin Studies. He was granted a prestigious award by the
Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici to complete his studies on St.
Thomas More's Utopia. Mr. Owens also edited an anthology of
Christian Latin authors annotated according to the Ørbergian method,
entitled Florilegium Latinitatis Christianae. His interests include
Ancient Greek and Neo-Latin literature, patristics, philosophy, and Catholic
liturgy.